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Build Your Own Drum-Playing Robot
libertynews writes "Here is a project called P.E.A.R.T. where EE students constructed a drum playing robot using USB controlled pneumatic actuators and MIDI files."
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No comments, and the link is ALREADY DEAD.
The slashdot effect never fails to amaze me..
There are two kinds of fool. One says, This is old, and therefore good. And one says, This is new, and therefore better.
Probably named after Neil Peart, Drummer for Rush.
-Adam
Watch it self distruct.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
But this time, automated.
sulli
RTFJ.
There should be an automatic test ran before each article is posted to test the server. A failure should either delay the article or mirror it somewhere else.
You can almost smell the cease and desist, can't you?
From: TETRAHEDRON GLOBAL LAWYERCORP LAWDRONE 234235/23
On behalf of: Rush
Re: TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT
Cool! The first part of Animusic has come alive... Now if they can only duplicate the ball-shooting music machine, I'd be in heaven.
Brief: Animusic is a bunch of animated music clips, where the animation is controlled by a MIDI file. Some great animation, and great music, in there.
Sure a build your own drum playing robot, sounds great...
Slave over it, loose sleep programming it, pour your hard earned money into it...
Next thing you know it runs off to Hollywood to start a band...
Yeah you MAY get a postcard occasionally... You may see it during guest appearances on TechTV but, will it care you are up fretting it's getting its proper upgrades? NO!
It sounds like a recipe for heartache...
Sorry, I've said too much already...
Instead of raising your voice, try strengthening your argument.
wtf would I do with a drum playing robot? I would think the amount of effort to put together one would vastly outweigh my ammusement of watching a tin can play the drums.
Coral cache
Everyone is born right-handed; only the greatest overcome it
DRMBOT0110 !!!!
easy, theres nothing remotely hard about a drum playing robot... a trumpet playing robot would be more interesting.
As I have been getting more involved in engineering and specifically robotics, I begin to see how rudimentary things like this project really are. You can buy a small system-on-chip processor with built in USB support, hook up some simple relays to control some solenoid valves, and a few days of programming later, bam. I really hope this is a standard project for these students.
cat /dev/random | /dev/drum
does it take to change a drummer?
or:
How many drummers does it take to stop a robot?
What I need is a chick singer who runs off USB
oh wait
she would forget to follow the program. Too realistic.
Firewire.
Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.
"Percussionist? You know, they have machines that can do that now."
Wow, I feel so old... I remember when computers were made out of drums and a robot was something completely unimaginable, known only from science fiction novels. Those were the days... Back then when the term "software" sounded funny and Real Computers were made out of drums and vacuum tubes, Real Programmers wrote in machine code. Not Perl. Not C. Not, even, assembly language. Machine Code. Raw, unadorned, inscrutable hexadecimal numbers. Directly.
Lest a whole new generation of programmers grow up in ignorance of this glorious past, I feel duty-bound to describe, as best I can through the generation gap, how a Real Programmer wrote code. I'll call him Mel, because that was his name.
I first met Mel when I went to work for Royal McBee Computer Corp., a now-defunct subsidiary of the typewriter company. The firm manufactured the LGP-30, a small, cheap (by the standards of the day) drum-memory computer, and had just started to manufacture the RPC-4000, a much-improved, bigger, better, faster -- drum-memory computer. Cores cost too much, and weren't here to stay, anyway. (That's why you haven't heard of the company, or the computer.)
I had been hired to write a FORTRAN compiler for this new marvel and Mel was my guide to its wonders. Mel didn't approve of compilers. "If a program can't rewrite its own code," he asked, "what good is it?"
Mel had written, in hexadecimal, the most popular computer program the company owned. It ran on the LGP-30 and played blackjack with potential customers at computer shows. Its effect was always dramatic. The LGP-30 booth was packed at every show, and the IBM salesmen stood around talking to each other. Whether or not this actually sold computers was a question we never discussed.
Mel's job was to re-write the blackjack program for the RPC-4000. (Port? What does that mean?) The new computer had a one-plus-one addressing scheme, in which each machine instruction, in addition to the operation code and the address of the needed operand, had a second address that indicated where, on the revolving drum, the next instruction was located. In modern parlance, every single instruction was followed by a GOTO! Put that in Pascal's pipe and smoke it.
Mel loved the RPC-4000 because he could optimize his code: that is, locate instructions on the drum so that just as one finished its job, the next would be just arriving at the read head and available for immediate execution. There was a program to do that job, an "optimizing assembler," but Mel refused to use it. "You never know where it's going to put things," he explained, "so you'd have to use separate constants." It was a long time before I understood that remark.
Since Mel knew the numerical value of every operation code, and assigned his own drum addresses, every instruction he wrote could also be considered a numerical constant. He could pick up an earlier "add" instruction, say, and multiply by it, if it had the right numeric value. His code was not easy for someone else to modify.
I compared Mel's hand-optimized programs with the same code massaged by the optimizing assembler program, and Mel's always ran faster. That was because the "top-down" method of program design hadn't been invented yet, and Mel wouldn't have used it anyway. He wrote the innermost parts of his program loops first, so they would get first choice of the optimum address locations on the drum. The optimizing assembler wasn't smart enough to do it that way.
Mel never wrote time-delay loops, either, even when the balky Flexowriter required a delay between output characters to work right. He just located instructions on the drum so each successive one was just past the read head when it was needed; the drum had to execute another complete revolution to find the next instruction. He coined an unforgettable term for this procedure. Although "optimum" is an absolute term, like "unique," it became common verbal practice to make it relative: "not quite optimum" or "less opt
Neither Coral nor Mirrordot managed to grab this one before it went down.
Check out this one from toyota.
That said, I don't think that while not ground breaking, making a drum playing robot would still be a lot of work, especially one that was easy to program.
so does mine, whats your point?
C-3PO was just inducted into The Robot hall of fame.
I wanna see bender get inducted.
http://216.109.117.135/search/cache?p=robotic+drum +machine+midi+%22how+it+works%22&ei=UTF-8&fl=0&vst =0&vs=www.graffagnino.net&u=www.graffagnino.net/ww wpeart/howitworks.htm&w=robotic+drum+machine+midi+ %22how+it+works%22&d=CCDC61028E&icp=1&.intl=us
does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: Twenty. One to screw it in, and nineteen to talk about how much better Neil Peart could have done it.
*rimshot*
Haida Manga
It's impressive that the robot can go through the physical actions of a drummer, however, they've still got a few more features to add. Here's a list of features typical in a drummer:
1) An obnoxious t-shirt. My favorite is the old "Snatch: the Greatest Food on Earth". Of course, there are plenty of others. Alternatively, a lesser drummer might resort to an old hockey jersey, but make sure it has a dozen holes and pizza stains on it.
2) Abhorrent smell. When your eyes water, you're getting close. The smell should be enough to kill a small animal.
3) Repulsive to women. This is more attitude than anything else. Make sure the robot takes credit for everything. The robot should act like Gods' gift to music; he wrote/composed everything and is really the key to the band's success. Also, if there are any guitar robots around trying to hit on bar-bunny robots, make sure drummer robots inturrupts with embarassing stories about the guitar robots.
4) Completely insane tastes in music. Make sure the robot likes nothing more than some obscure late-60's bluegrass band that sold a hundred albums. As a bonus, the robot should get violent when said band's musical ability is questioned. Drummer robot should insist that this band's entire catalog be performed at every gig.
5) Alcoholism. The robot should start drinking in the morning, and won't stop till the next. Make sure the robot whores all the free beer at gigs. For the best realism, make sure this alchohol intensifies all of the other mentioned points. But most importantly, a good drummer always lets alcohol cause him to play poorly. It's never his own fault, of course.
6) Always late. Rehearsal, Gig, Practice, Weddings, ii-V changes, second verse, etc.
"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." -Voltaire
you shoud ask does Linux run it...
Naming a robotic drummer after Neil Peart? The irony does not escape me.
One simple rule for its versus it's
You can't spell geek without EE!!!
If it can unlock The Legend of Zelda Theme in Donkey Konga, let me know. I'll get one.
There are no gods but ourselves.
A robot that plays Rush? This is redundant guys, Sony came out with one years ago called THE WALKMAN
no thanks, already have one.
Sounded and looked fucking amazing. Big crowd pleaser too!
http://www.matthewsteinke.com/ has a work built in '99 (under works->then one of the links at the bottom). I saw it live a couple of years ago - he had a microphone going into a computer then it tried to mimic what the mic picked up using solenoids on different types of percussion instruments.
...who hangs out with three musicians?
The drummer!
*Ba-dum-bump-tsh*
The drummer drools out of both sides of his mouth.
How do you know when a drummer is at your door?
The knock speeds up.
Can it use the drum to send IP packets?
Plans for your own drum robot (second set of plans) These plans are for a robot nearly 100 years old. Back when programs were loaded on paper tape.
I've seen their leader and he lives at Chuck E. Cheese.
Worst site design. Ever.
http://capturedbyrobots.com/
This guy has an entire robotic band. Quite an amazing sight.
What's the name of the guy who hangs out with the musicians?
The Robot!
Seriously though, this kind of thing was fairly obvious, IMHO. A traditional MIDI drummer triggered sounds in a computer, which came out of a speaker, and probably sounded "close enough" to a real drummer who was recorded and is being played back for most people.
The next logical step is something that could take MIDI instructions, but sound like a live drummer (i.e. not come through a speaker), and the obvious answer to that is a robot drummer.
But tell me, does this robot get drunk and vomit all over itself backstage before the show too? Because if it does, I don't think it's worth the investment.
Has anyone called Spinal Tap yet?
will have to be modified to "the drummer drools oil on both sides of the drummer's mouth."
On the other hand, the joke: Will still be valid, but a bit less funny.
"It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us." - Zelazny
cat /dev/random > /dev/drum
Robots just explode sometimes. Spontaneous combustion. Especially if they're drummers.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
I've already created a machine that is constantly pushing air through the of the mouth of a balloon while creating tension just before the mouth of the balloon to form accurate high end (some would say whiney) pitches.
I've named it Generator of Exact Digitally-encoded Di-tones model YYZ, (G.E.D.D.Y. for short)
Finally something that can be used to play Donkey Konga for the gamecube so I don't have to. :P
Now only if they could invent a robot to play DDR for that same reason mentioned above....
DEAD DEAD DEAD DELETE ME
http://www.animusic.com
CGI movies driven by MIDI. Pretty neat stuff. Fun to watch. PBS plays some of their stuff before Dr. Who.
What's the MIDI code for stick twirls again?
How's my programming? Call 1-800-DEV-NULL
Some people are missing the point and think that this project was invented just to play MIDI drum sounds through a speaker. Although I cannot reach the website because of the slashdotting, I can infer from the original post that this is a real robot playing real drums. This is an admirable feat at the very least.
Having a synthetic Neil Peart would be phenomenal. I'm happy that these students have taken it upon themselves to usher MIDI to the next level by melding it with very real robotic triggers to make the drums sound more realistic. Also, I'm elated that one of the most spectacular and accomplished drummers of our time is being recognized by name with a project such as this.
If you want to check out some real Neil Peart, here's an excellent site for some bootlegs. Just do a search on 'Rush' for the ultimate in percussive listening pleasure!!! IMHCO, a mechanical drummer will never sound this good. If you're sufficiently impressed, go buy the studio albums. You won't regret it.
chris cunningham did a sweet robotic drummer installation. you can find it here:
a ph y/
http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Aphex_Twin/Biogr
click on the "monkey drummer" link.
--BlueLines "The cost of living hasn't affected it's popularity." -anonymous
Protestant Christian (converted catholic etc. )robots deployed around this :-)
part of the world are doing a better job.
Kudos to the Corporate intelligentia
... the Drum Can Man
That's right. All your base.
If bush wins, my bumpersticker will read:
.
It'll read the same as after another Bush loss, y'all are out of touch with political reality.
Stop
here's a mirror to help out the poor guy
http://www.flexhosting.net/wwwpeart/
If one of the slashdot gods see this, you might want to add it to the front page.
What do a drummer and a medium pizza have in common?
Neither one can feed a family of four.
I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.
I saw a band called Captured by Robots that includes two drum-playing robots, a robot that plays a double-necked guitar, and various and sundry other automated musical instruments.
Puts on quite a show with 'em, too.
What do you call a drummer without a girlfriend?
Homeless =)
-Myke
myke@compassionatecoalition.org
http://www.compassionatecoalition.org
My grandmother's pacemaker runs windows 98. She can play games, movies and even watch DVDs! But, sadly, everyonce in a while she'll turn blue and we have to reboot her. *sigh* The old days of being up 3 days at a time, coding, and having no one to talk to.
Q:What do you call someone who hangs out with musicians?
A:A Drummer
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
Look into astronomical telescope mounts.
I'm guessing that wasn't on their radar screen...
I, for one, welcome our new USB controlled, pneumatically actuated drum - playing robot overlords.
im just glad they used the God of Drummings name for this. Neal Peart deserves recognition - that man is awesome on the drums!
I hung out with a bunch of musicians in high school. Most of these guys were drummers, though, and I play a horn. We were always throwing barbs around, and the drummer jokes always riled these guys up.
The best was this one time when we were all home from college. We found out that one of my drummer friends (and his wife) got duped into the Amway thing. We're at this guy's house when they decide to give us the presentation "for practice". Ugh.
So Chris is in the middle of the presentation, and at this point he's pitching Amway as a great backup in case your regular career falls through. His unfortunate example of how this might happen was always a car crash. He turns to my friend Rob, who had decided to pursue percussion as a career. Rob was attending North Texas State, a top music school. Chris says "Rob, you're going to NTSU, you're going to be an awesome drummer someday, but what if you get in a car crash and... uh... lose your arms?"
Rob grins and says, "Gee Chris, I guess I could sell Amway."
Chris turns to me and says "Dave, you're going to RPI and you're going to be some genius engineer, but what if you get in a car crash and... uh... get brain damaged?"
I look at Rob and say "Well, I guess I could still play the drums!" Rob attacks me and thankfully the scuffle lasted long enough to end the presentation.
Try this mirror site:
http://www.flexhosting.net/wwwpeart/
Why couldn't they have called it B.R.U.F.O.R.D (Box of Robot and USB-Fuelled Old Ratty Drums)?
'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
Agreed that this isn't all that high tech anymore.. it's just a cool idea. After all CD Players or Player Pianos are really doing the same thing as this robot, but with a different instrument. The real deal as always would be a robot drummer that can improvise, or pick up a tune on its own.
While reading the drummer jokes already posted, I'm reminded of the classic:
Q: "What was the last thing the drummer said before he was kicked out of the band?"
A: "Hey guys, I've got my own songs too.."
Bi-da-ba-da-bo-da-bum-bum-bum-bum....
Well you can bite my shiny metal ass.
welcome our new drum-playing robot overlords.
Or, are we not doing this cliche anymore?
Unofficial Slashdot Poll
"All this machinery making modern music can still be..." This is cool/insane. I could team this up with my current monster garage band projects:
- L.E.E. (Low End Emulator)
- L.I.F.E.S.O.N. (Lerxtian Influenced Finger Emulator for Sonically Overdriven Noise) and form a robot band called... (wait for it...)
- R.U.S.H. (Robots Utilizing Slashdot-esque Heuristics)
Or maybe we could get Michael Gavon and Bevin Kendall to plug it into their massive distributed computer S.Y.R.I.N.X. (SYnergistic Resource for Information eXchange, picture an iPod the size of a planet) and play the entire catalog of Rush tunes..
.
.
But enough of me... I have to get back to my lab. I'm currently working on the aerodynamics and harmonic pendula to cause laminar flow to make a windchime that plays YYZ.
StarGlider29a
"You have the right to remain silent...
Anything you say can and will be used in my next book
For those, who wonder that this is the high end of robotic technology, I must disappoint you. This is nothing more but an engineering project to put a bunch of pneumatic valves and map them to a computer. I am not flaming here, don't get me wrong, but to appreciate what they did, one needs to understand what REALLY happened.
Basically what they did, is they mapped physical instruments to what otherwise a sound card would have to generate. A soundcard usually has a set of instrument samples built into it so that it can play MIDI files (MIDI is an established interface to have music-related stuff talk to eatch other and understand music as data).(When a card does it, it's called wavetable synthesis.) People usually load the more advanced ones soundards which have this capability with better-sounding instrument samples and thus get the computer to help them sequence higher-quality music.
So what the project that those guys accomplishes is that now, you can map the "drum instrument" to a physical device instead of an "in-memory sound bank" that would get played through your PC sound system.
http://www.lemurbots.org/EmergencyBot.mov
Even as a barely "average" drummer myself I think it sounds rubbish!! It's got no "finesse" it's like a child (admitidly with rythm) hitting the drums.
;O)
One question tho, have they connected it up to an electronic drumset yet!
Now there's a robotic drum player, and a little over a year ago I was part of a small engineering team that built an automatic harmonica player:
http://www.purplehippo.com/ed2/
All we need now is a piano playing robot, and we're good to go! Bring on the record contracts!
"We hope you enjoy our new direction!"
"Creativity is allowing ones self to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep" - Scott Adams
How do you ferilize your lawn with motor oil?
My pics.